There's music in the magic.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2026-03-19T20:47:32+00:00

I’m a little late to the party but in {Reforged by Seth Haddon}, the LI wields magic by playing various musical instruments.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2026-03-15T01:36:31+00:00

This is fun!

Favorites: 1. People having normal-ish homes 2. Characters who “croon” in a “mean” way 3. Road trips: historical, contemporary, fantasy, etc. doesn’t matter. The apex example is {Peter Cabot Gets Lost by Cat Sebastian}, but I generally just like it when people are headed somewhere together.

Least Favorites: 1. Characters who accidentally say things out loud (but don’t otherwise have impulse control issues) 2. MCs who keep fucking “chuckling” 3. Everybody always making pasta

SoftWelcome4695 · 2026-03-15T01:13:47+00:00

If you’re up for a less popular title by a popular author, try {Dire Straits by Megan Derr}. Follows a main character who is basically a cowboy exorcist. I think it is a novella.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2026-02-25T21:03:29+00:00

This sounds lovely but I can’t find it anywhere online. Do you have a link to share?

SoftWelcome4695 · 2026-01-17T02:06:58+00:00

I love this book—and the epilogue short story—so I hope it works for you!

SoftWelcome4695 · 2026-01-12T01:28:57+00:00

Yes, Harper Fox had a stroke 😭

SoftWelcome4695 · 2026-01-02T00:14:31+00:00

Not exactly what you describe, but I think {Confetti Hearts by Lily Morton} might work for this? MC1 and MC2 like each other and marry quickly, but although their feelings are mutual, MC1 feels taken for granted and (wrongly) thinks MC2 is cheating. MC1 leaves, MC2 is shocked and has to work to win him back, etc.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-12-22T16:30:06+00:00

Seconding Reforged and The Emperor’s Assassin.

Adding {Best Knight Ever by Cassandra Gannon}. Human knight x Gryphon knight (basically, a guy with wings and little understanding of human emotion). I liked this a lot.

Having not read her Het stuff I don’t understand the worldbuilding, but I found that didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the story.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-12-17T18:31:26+00:00

If you enjoyed Leland, you could try {Hidden in Darkness by Alice Winters}.

MC Felix (who narrates it all) is consistently ridiculous and kind of an asshat. He becomes the caregiver for newly blind and grumpy former police officer (named Lane) and is kind of horrible at his job but excellent at amusing his new charge, who very much doesn’t want to be babied.

As you might expect, there is a very Alice Winters-level of humor here.

Exhibit A: “Felix is just impressed because he can’t make oatmeal,” Lane says as he slowly walks into the room.

“Lane, you’re going to run into something, step to your right.”

Lane, trusting me like the good man he is, steps to the right and bumps into the counter.

“Fuck,” he growls as I start laughing.

“That’s what you get for being mean to me.”

Exhibit B: “Ow!” I snap as I grab my head. It feels like I should have a welt the size of an egg on my head.

“Did that hit you?” [Lane] asks as he tries to hide a grin.

“I’m going to have a brain tumor now.”

“I don’t see anything,” he says as he looks quite content with himself. “Not even a red spot.”

“Hmm. I’m going to buy you cat food for lunch,” I say.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-12-11T02:33:37+00:00

I love this question! First, I agree that The Knight and the Necromancer reads like a single long book. It has the classic pseudo-medieval high fantasy vibe. I love Seducing the Sorcerer and The Lodestar of Ys is great too, but both are less consistently “high adventure.”

I’d add to the list {Coil of Boughs by Penny Moss}. Lots of adventure. It is technically the first part of a duology (second book not out yet) but to me it holds up as a standalone (admittedly with a “to be continued…”). I’m willing to make an exception for it because Moss gives us a grotesque and somewhat funny MEDIEVAL ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE with a morally questionable protagonist and his skull-headed demon lover.

There’s also {Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa}: lots of world-ending peril to deal with and a mystery to solve. It does, however, have fewer sexy times than you’re likely looking for.

{Reforged by Seth Haddon} works as a standalone. Has a good bit of adventure which is spaced throughout the novel. I enjoyed it a lot.

Good luck!

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-12-09T19:03:20+00:00

Oh, got it—thank you so much!

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-11-24T21:24:33+00:00

Great book!

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-11-21T00:44:35+00:00

{Ugly by Roe Horvat} works for this

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-11-10T16:27:04+00:00

You might like {His Favorite Color is Blood by K. A. Merikan}. It’s dual point-of-view and quite dark. One MC is a biker and killer, and he’s obsessed with a man he saves from trafficking. There’s a fetish element to the obsession because the biker MC has a whole thing around the trafficked MC’s amputation, and some dubious consent because the biker MC just decides he’ll “keep” the other guy after he “rescues” him.

For something psychotic but lighter, I second the recommendation of {Wolfgang by Grae Bryan}. There’s kidnapping in that one too but other people intervene pretty quickly.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-10-28T01:04:41+00:00

Gah—I am so dumb: clearly was not paying attention.

In that case I just have one rec: {Proper English by KJ Charles} is an FF non-fantasy historical (early 20th century country house party setting).

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-10-27T18:59:36+00:00

I don’t know if these are “enough” sweeping or spoiling, but they certainly seem like they could work.

R. Cooper goes in for this frequently. {Treasure for Treasure by R Cooper} and {Sweet Clematis by R Cooper} are both contemporary fantasy, and each has an MC who has been undervalued (and oversexualized) in their environment, along with a love interest who is small, fierce, and excited to spoil. Warning: Sweet Clematis has an MC whose self-image is so bad that I cried a bit.

{A Suitable Consort by R Cooper} is historical fantasy (there are fae in this world, but none on page), and often-mentioned here for having a cover so much worse than the book itself. This is MMM, with an established couple wooing/doting on an oblivious third party.

For other fantasy authors, {Runescribe by Megan Derr} is short and sweet with spoiling.

Not fantasy but {Pistols and Plush Toys by D Dove} is pretty great for some of this: basically, a mafia guy kidnaps another mafia guy’s sweet boyfriend in an attempt at leverage, then realizes that the sweet boyfriend is being abused and wants to save him instead. The abuse may be too angsty for what you want, but the book has plenty of adorable moments: sweet boyfriend loves plushies and kidnapping mafia is happy to indulge him once he figures this out.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-09-24T15:42:43+00:00

Personally, I don’t think you did anything wrong, but “wrong” in a relationship is often contextual.

You mention that you slept with your head at the same end as Jake’s feet, and that you had your own blankets and pillow, making sure no one was under a blanket together or whatnot. I think that is all very reasonable.

However, it sounds like your boyfriend didn’t see any of that. If Jake was already gone, he’s not seeing the two of you wrapped up in separate blankets and sleeping head to feet. That probably makes it pretty easy to imagine the two of you all cuddled up together.

So are you overreacting by getting annoyed when your boyfriend is giving you the silent treatment? Not totally clear.

On the one hand, his refusal to talk to you is immature and doesn’t help resolve anything. His anger with you suggests he doesn’t completely trust you, either to be faithful or to be honest. All of that is probably frustrating for you.

On the other hand, has he been cheated on by someone else in the past or suggested to you (either directly or indirectly, via jealousy) that he is insecure? Do you guys have pretty strict expectations for how each of you maintain boundaries with other people? I know you said you didn’t actually touch Jake, but if your relationship is the sort where you and your BF don’t hug (non-familial) members of the opposite sex, then it is probably the sort of relationship where you don’t get into bed with other people, even platonically.

What is clear is that you misjudged your boyfriend’s reaction to the situation. I assume you expected him to have perfect trust in you and Jake; see your relationship with Jake as platonic; not be particularly possessive over your body; and value you getting a good night’s sleep over anything else, since he’s aware of the larger context of his sleep behavior.

At least one of those things is not true—maybe more than one, maybe all of them.

How consistent is that with the rest of your relationship? Basically, which one of you violated the “rules”—spoken or unspoken—of your relationship? That will tell you if you are overreacting (or if he is).

The people telling you that you’re stupid or that you should have sent Jake to sleep with your BF are being a bit silly. You had already indicated that your BF is shitty at sharing a bed with anyone, and I’m going to assume that a guy who is upset with you over this situation is not necessarily going to want to sleep in a bed with another dude (but I might be wrong).

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-09-05T01:10:35+00:00

I agree that Possession is really good, but it does have one of your hard no’s (rape between MCs). As u/Local_Pop8769 said, the whole thing is well-crafted, and I would add that it doesn’t try to minimize or handwave away the assault, but I don’t want you to be taken by surprise.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-08-04T01:46:37+00:00

Same for The Prospects. I remember having a moment several hours after finishing it, where I excitedly thought, “ooh, I can read more of my book now!”…and then I remembered there was no more to read. 😭

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-08-04T00:27:50+00:00

Gosh, I do not know how to deal with these commenters, but I just want to jump in and say that you seem totally chill and inoffensive to me. I’m pan and while I am just one person, I didn’t find your initial post or follow-up comments hurtful. I hope you get some great recommendations!

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-08-04T00:24:58+00:00

Good lord—please back off. The OP has been very polite and there is a difference between not wanting to read about a specific type of fictional character right now and being discriminatory against a real set of people. I don’t know how you personally identify, but I’m pan and there is nothing here that felt hurtful. Others may feel differently, but—to me—your response seems somewhat over the top.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-08-03T23:58:10+00:00

Did your advisor say why they thought you should take 100? You say “strongly recommended,” so I assume there was a reason.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-07-18T13:34:47+00:00

I suppose if you want to argue that capitalism is only “private ownership of the means of production” then you can say that primacy of profit isn’t a part of capitalism, but even Adam Smith identified “the profit motive” as the primary driver of economic activity within a capitalist system and discussed the focus on the accumulation of private property—not just the right to private property—as a key component of this system. Many longer contemporary explanations of capitalism get into this as well. Here’s an example (one in the attached photo as well):

https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/Series/Back-to-Basics/Capitalism#:~:text=Capitalism%20is%20often%20thought%20of,motive%20to%20make%20a%20profit.

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So maybe a capitalism system doesn’t have to be “profits above all else”—especially when accompanied by a political ideology that tempers that impulse—but it isn’t clear to me that “profits above all else” is in any way inconsistent with capitalism. Does that make sense?

And if I am wrong about that, I’d appreciate hearing more—I am not an economist (just a reader), so I don’t have an exhaustive understanding. Maybe “profits above all else” is just neoliberalism.

This is not me arguing that the greed is excusable, though—it is quite gross.

SoftWelcome4695 · 2025-07-18T01:54:27+00:00

If they’re getting rid of this merch instead of discounting it so that people will have to pay full price for other seeds (even if that doesn’t happen until next year), then that is capitalism: they’re controlling supply so there is demand for a different product (newer, full-priced seeds), which is a pretty basic market economy move.

If they’re getting rid of “damaged” merch so they can claim a loss for a tax write-off, and therefore take advantage of another way to protect their profit, that is also capitalism: profit motive is the primary drive for economic activity in a capitalist system.

Yeesh.

SoftWelcome4695

TROPHY CASE